Thursday, June 28, 2012

P52 Nashville: These Are Not Our Enemies


"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." Ephesians 6:12

     When you hear the words "Muslim" or "Islam", what thoughts come to your mind? For many of us, we may have never had a Muslim friend or acquaintance; the most we have heard of these people have been news reports of violence and hatred.

     The past two weeks, I have been in training for leadership and evangelism to Muslim people groups in Nashville. My team's focus is on North African and Middle Eastern people groups, specifically the Kurds and Somali Bantu. Our mission is to bring the light of the gospel to these unreached people groups and empower the local church to take up this mission and actively seek to evangelize and plant churches among these peoples in the Nashville area.

     Last Friday I had the opportunity to attend a service at the local mosque. We did not participate, but we were able to observe from the back of the room as the people worshiped their god. I have never known anyone who was Muslim, and like many of you, I have been very detached from these people. As I attended this service what I realized was that these people are just like us: sinners in desperate need of the gospel of Christ.  They have shown me incredible hospitality, often more than I would expect from the most hospitable of Southern people.

     I was struck by the devotion that these people showed to their god. These people desperately want to please their god, but have been deceived by the lies of the evil one. Pray against the powers of darkness and pray that the Spirit would come and illuminate the lies and shine the truth of the gospel of Christ through His Church.

"Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places." Ephesians 3:7-10

Here's how you can pray:
  1. Pray for wisdom/discernment as my team seeks to effectively bring the gospel to the Kurdish and Somali Bantu.
  2. Pray for visions and dreams for the Muslims here in Nashville (85% of converted Muslims had a dream or vision of Christ before conversion).
  3. Pray for the local church to have the heart and eyes of Christ: to love and see the nations as God does.
  4. Pray for refugees to be open to hearing the gospel and studying the Bible in their homes.
  5. Pray for a house church movement to begin in Nashville that would impact the globe.
  6. Pray for God to do things that only He can do. Pray big.

In Christ,
Matt